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Looking for a Practical Christmas Present

Practical Christmas Present

With all the recent storms here in the UK and with more on the horizon – the loss of power becomes more and more likely. Some unfortunate folk are out of hours or days and some lucky few may only be for short periods. One of the most important things to have when without power is of course…the internet. So, how do you make sure that your kids aren’t bored and can still play games, watch YouTube and TikTok videos on their non cellular iPad, or don’t burn up their data allowance in one day? How do you FaceTime your friends and relatives? Make and receive calls on your VoiP phone? Protect your WiFi from power outages with an iPower – the most practical Christmas present this year.

Get Your iPower Now!

iPowers

iPowers

DC UPS Systems for Modems Routers & ONTs

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Although we’ll ship out immediately your orders we’re in the hands of Royal Mail and so will need orders in by Dec 20th to arrive before Christmas Day.

How to Choose The Most Practical Christmas Present

You need to know what voltage the router works at. Do this by looking at the router input or looking at the AC adapter rating and see what the output is. (Note that if you remove the AC adapter from the wall the router will power off, you’ll lose WiFi and your kids will scream, so do it at night). If it’s 12V and you’ve only the router to worry about then the iPower-H is your best bet. If you have another device then you may need 2. Note that a lot of fibre installations now require power back up for the incoming termination unit and the WiFi router.

If the voltage is 9V then you could pick up one of the last remaining iPower-Minis (there’s only a handful left).

The iPower-DC2 is the best of the best though and makes it the most practical Christmas present. Not only is it good for 12V and 9V systems it has more than one output so provided the voltages on the devices are the same you can use it to power both. You may need an additional power adapter or extra long leads – all of which are available from our store.

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Telecare Battery Backup Solutions

Telecare describes a range of products that are designed to monitor vulnerable or otherwise at risk persons to help them live more independently and safely. Where some products are designed to emit local alarms, others are connected to a monitoring service. This connection is often done over the users landline. With the digitisation of the PTSN network by 2027, ISPs and Telecare providers now have the responsibility to ensure that such users still have access to their services when their existing landline goes digital and so require Telecare Battery Backup Solutions.

What’s the problem?

In a PTSN network the telephone line is a copper wire connected directly to the telephone exchange (via a few street cabs). The telephone exchange contains chargers and large battery strings to ensure that even in the event of a utility power failure, that all devices connected to the PTSN network can operate. E.g., if you have a power cut you can still make telephone calls, activate your help cord or personal alarm and get help when you need it.

OFCOM have already provided guidance to VOIP providers that they should provide a 1hr service availability, and the UK government has recently written to a number of providers asking them to consider 8 hour solutions. Consensus appears to be a 4hr solution may be required in future.

Telecare Battery Backup Solutions

The Power Inspired iPowers are DC-DC systems that simply plug in to the DC port on the equipment to be protected. Backup times of one hour can be met with most products whereas the iPower-DC2 is suitable for 4 and 8 hour solutions for systems depending on average power consumption. To extend available backup time for Telecare equipment we suggest powering each separate device from a different iPower.

Power Inspired PF - Telecare battery backup

Another option is to use AC battery backup and protect all Telecare equipment including other essential equipment for in the home. The PF unit can provide pure sinewave output whilst on battery. The large Lithium battery will ensure that even runtimes of 8 hours are easily achievable for constant loads under 100W or so. In addition, the unit can be connected to solar panels prolonging the available runtime or even achieving total grid independence.

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iPower-Mini Complements DC UPS Series

Power Inspired have complemented their range of DC UPS for broadband applications with the launch of the iPower-Mini. The small unobtrusive device sits between your existing DC power supply and the load to provide typically well over an hour of backup. This allows access to telecommunications for vulnerable people especially important these days as landline calls are now being phased out.

The iPower-Mini sits between the existing power supply and the router providing well over an hours backup for the vast majority of devices. It starts up automagically when power is applied and autosenses 9 or 12V. Simple 3 LED system gives indication of 9 or 12V output, charge / discharge status and battery low.

The unit features an auto-sense 9V or 12V output and an impressive 24W capacity. It contains a dual 3.7V 2500mAh 18650 battery (18.5Wh) giving over 30 minutes at full load (24W) and well over an hour 1 at 12W. A typical 12W 1A router should see backup times in excessive of 2 hours.

Which iPower Do I need?

Power Inspired have 3 iPower models in their range, all contains certified Lithium batteries with full protection circuitry.

iPower-H

The iPower-H replaces the existing power supply providing an extremely simple solution for 12V 1A applications.

The internal 12.4Wh battery provides typically 1hr backup. The unit is fitted with a 2m lead to allow connections that need not be directly adjacent to the load. In addition to which the sprung connector makes it suitable for both 2.1mm and 2.5mm input jacks.

The iPower-H is simple in operation with auto-start, cold-start and a single LED giving device status – ready (solid Green), charging (slow flashing Green), discharging/low battery (quick flashing Green) and fault (Red).

The iPower-H is ideal for bundling with the device to be protected saving on the cost of purchasing the power supply. The unit also contains built in AC surge diverters for added power protection.

Unlike the other iPower models the iPower-H can have the battery replaced without opening the unit.

iPower-Mini

The iPower-Mini is ideal where you have an existing power supply and you need to add backup for a single 9V or 12V application.

The internal 18.5Wh battery gives typically 2hrs backup for a 12V 1A router.

Simple to use simply plug the existing power supply into the iPower-Mini and the output lead into the device to be protected. The unit is designed to sit adjacent to the load being protected and can be wall mounted via the rear keyhole slot.

The three LEDs give indication of set voltage (Red for 9V and Green for 12V) if the unit is running on battery power (Orange LED) and if the battery is running low (flashing orange). The charge indicator (Green) flashes when charging and is solid to indicate fully charged.

Due to the auto-sense function the iPower-Mini cannot be cold started.

iPower-DC2

The iPower-DC2 is a selectable 9V/12V or 24V system with a huge 30W capacity making it suitable for powering multiple devices, including USB powered.

It can be utilised with an existing power supply or bundled with a suitable device (typically bundled with a 12V 3A PSU) and allows battery backup protection for both the ONTs and the hub in a typical fibre broadband installation.

Various output cables can be provided to match the individual installer requirements, with the unit either sitting on a shelf or alternatively DIN rail mounted using an optional accessory.

The large 37Wh battery provides many hours backup for the majority of devices – the 1hr regulatory requirement is met at 25W.

Front LEDS give indication of set voltage (Red / Blue or Purple) and 4 Green LEDS show battery charge / discharge status.

There are 5 output DC jacks and a USB port for connection of multiple devices.

The iPower-DC2 auto starts and can be cold started (since the output voltage is manually set).

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Pharmacy Fridge UPS Applications

Pharmacy Fridge

Why use a UPS on a Pharmacy Fridge?

Unlike applications where sudden power loss causes data loss or other operational issues, power loss to a pharmacy fridge is not such of an issue since the internal temperature is well controlled. In the event of a power cut a solution is simply not to open the fridge. A typical fridge will maintain the internal temperature for around 4 hours in the event of a power cut – provided the door is unopened. However note if the fridge cannot be opened then no medicine in the fridge can be retrieved.

Many laboratory or pharmacy fridges have alarm contacts which can alert to the fact that power has failed and as a result warn users not to open the door. However, a power fail alarm will have to be operated on a secondary power system, such as a battery, due to the obvious fact that a mains powered system would also be rendered inactive during a power outage. Having a battery system, will also require the battery to be maintained in a state of charge. These added complications mean that such alarms are rarely, if ever, implemented.

A pharmacy fridge will be used to house items, typically vaccines, diluents, immunoglobulins and other medicines with temperature requirements. The costs of these medicines can be quite substantial and if the temperature inside the fridge should rise to over +8°C, then, according to the NHS Green Book, the “cold chain” has been broken and these medicines may need to be destroyed. If not destroyed, then a time-consuming process needs to be instigated to determine the effect on the medicine which most likely will include a reduction in the expiry date.

Clearly, protection against sustained power outages has operational and financial benefits.

Fridge Power Consumption

Instead of giving power ratings of the Pharmacy Fridge, the manufacturers specify the energy consumption in KW for a 24 hour period. The method I found for doing this is here: ENERGY STAR® Program Requirements Product Specification for Laboratory Grade Refrigerators and Freezers, and Ultra-Low Temperature Freezers. This value varies from product to product and depends upon a number of factors, including capacity, the type of doors (glass or solid etc.) and the configuration (bench top, under counter etc.). Typically these figures are around 1KW/24 hour for a typical small system in a typical pharmacy. See Note 1.

The test schedule includes opening the fridge door for a period of 15 seconds (plus an additional 4 seconds for opening and closing), 3 times an hour each hour for 8 consecutive hours. This is useful as it allows us to specify a UPS runtime that will allow a degree of use of the fridge during an extended outage.

A typical fridge compressor has a power draw of around 200W, and will require a sine-wave inverter to ensure correct operation.

UPS Selection

In the table below I’ve created a lookup for the number of hours of runtime you could expect (and remember this includes periodically opening the door) given the energy rating of the pharmacy fridge.

The PF-S-Li products are units ideal for Pharma Fridge applications. The units contain an internal high capacity Lithium Ion battery offering long runtimes, long life and low weight. The PF1200S-Li has a continuous power rating of 1200W, but with a surge rating of 2400W. This allows it to easily deal with the inrush current generated by the compressors of the fridges.

Achievable Runtime in hours:

Energy Rating
(KWhr/24hr)		Equivalent
Watts		PF1200Li
Expected Runtime
0.521>24 hrs
0.753221 hrs
14216 hrs
1.56310 hrs
2848hrs
2.51056hrs
31255hrs
3.51464hrs
41674hrs
4.51883hrs
52093hrs

Contact us to enquire about UPS for Pharma Fridge Applications.

The PF1200S-Li has superb surge rating of twice its capacity for 5 seconds allowing it to cope with the inrush demands of high performance refrigeration units. It also has the benefit of fast recharge and can be connected to a solar panel array. Connectivity is via 4xUK socket outlets and it even boasts a wireless charging pad, USB A and USB C outlets. In addition to powering the fridge it can also provide battery backed power for ancillary devices.

Note 1: I’ve used what manufacturers are displaying on their spec sheets in order to avoid confusion, however the correct term should in fact be kilowatt hours per 24 hour period eg. kWh/24

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New Product for FTTP – the iPower-DC2

Power Inspired launch the iPower-DC2 – a DC UPS designed to provide long runtimes on telecommunications equipment. Not only will this keep equipment going in mission critical applications following a power outage – it allows FTTP (Fibre To The Premises) companies to have compliance with OFCOM guidance on providing telephony services for an hour following a power outage. 1

The Power Inspired existing iPower-H is a fantastic solution for this, and indeed is used in many thousands of installations for that very purpose, however with the increased power demands of routers and hubs the need for a more powerful and higher runtime unit became apparent.

Most DC based IT products are 12V, however a proportion are 9V powered and some even 24V. Furthermore, more essential equipment is being powered via USB. In addition several separate boxes can be required in an installation requiring several connections. The iPower-DC2 encompasses all these scenarios with adjustable 9V, 12V or 24V operation, a 2A USB port and 5 DC jack outlets. An adapter can also be used for affixing to a DIN rail on the wall or in a cabinet.

Runtime is impressive with a 10,000mAh Lithium Ion battery pack delivering over an hours runtime at 25W. Full safety is ensured by using UN38.3 certified cells, and with full battery protection circuitry – the battery pack is monitored for overcharge, over-discharge and over-current.

iPower DC2 Rear Panel Connections

Operation is simple. Set the Voltage Selector switch to the nominal voltage of your power supply and plug in. The iPower-DC2 will start automatically and provide continuous power to the connected loads. If the DC power is unavailable the iPower-DC2 can be cold started – to basically act as a power bank.

To save needless expense and waste, the iPower-DC2 is intended to be used with the AC/DC adapter that comes with the equipment to be protected. However it can be provided with a suitable AC adapter within the same box and any additional leads required. It comes as standard with two 30cm DC-DC leads with sprung connectors suitable for 2.1 or 2.5mm input jacks.

For further information see iPower DC UPS or contact us.

iPower DC2 UPS
Power Inspired iPower-DC2
Notes

1 “Providers should have at least one solution available that enables access to emergency organisations for a minimum of one hour in the event of a power outage in the premises.” From Protecting access to emergency organisations when there is a power cut at the customer’s premises Guidance on General Condition A3.2(b)

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Lithium-Ion UPS vs VRLA UPS

Lithium UPS

Our Lithium Ion UPS range is an impressive series of UPSs with internal Lithium Ion batteries, that make the units efficient, lightweight and more environment friendly. They also reduce the whole life costs of the UPSs. We have conducted some tests to show you how the Lithium-Ion UPS compares to the VRLA UPS in terms of runtime.

Each unit is connected to 1800W load. The Lithium UPS battery capacity is 48V 9.9Ah = 475VAh. The VRLA UPS battery capacity is 72V 9Ah = 648VAh. Although the Lithium UPS has only 75% of VRLA UPSs battery capacity, the runtime results are outstanding! See the video below:

We provide 5-year warranty on the Lithium-Ion UPS systems including the batteries.
Lithium-Ion UPS only from Power Inspired. Learn more at www.lithium-ups.com and register your interest.

Lithium-Ion UPS

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GPON ONT UPS Solution – The iPower

GPON ONT Router

This article looks at GPON ONT UPS solutions, why you need them and what the solution is. GPON is the acronym for Gigabit Passive Optical Network and is used in “last mile” broadband distribution to provide “Fibre To The Home” or FTTH. Once in your home, the fibre is terminated with an Optical Network Termination device or ONT. If you want to read more about this then try this GPON Fundamentals, but seriously you don’t have to.

What GPON allows is seriously fast broadband into your home but there is a drawback – and it’s nothing to do with broadband, it’s to do with power.

GPON ONT UPS solution

In a typical broadband connection you have copper wires coming into your house. These wires carry a 50V supply which originates from the telephone exchange. This allows the ability to make (and receive) landline calls from your telephone service during a power outage. Essential during any emergency.

GPON however uses fibre optic cables. These cables are made from glass, and glass if you didn’t know is a very bad conductor of electricity (in fact a very good insulator) and so it is impossible to deliver power from the telephone exchange to your home or office. Of course, the result of this is that in the event of a power outage you are unable to make or receive any landline calls.

Depending upon circumstances this may not be too much of an issue. Mobile devices have largely removed the need for landline telephones, however in areas of poor signal quality the need for a landline is paramount.

What’s more, services such as Skype, FaceTime, WhatsApp etc., will also fail as the GPON ONT will be without power and therefore your home or office without internet connection. As well as the fact that you would have to deal with restless children not being able to play on their tablet devices, workers twiddling thumbs etc., there is a more serious note in that you may be completely cut off from any form of communications.

An Uninterruptible Power Supply can provide back up power for just such an eventuality, and for 12V supplied ONTs the iPower is the ideal GPON ONT UPS solution. The iPower has a 12V 2.1A output and in most cases will replace the supplied power supply that came with your ONT. This means that the unit occupies no additional space and simply plugs into your device.

The iPower can provide up to an hour or more back up, depending upon the power requirements of the ONT, enough to protect against the majority of power cuts, or allow you to make an important emergency call in the event of something more serious. For longer runtimes the iPower-HD (coming soon) can provide hours if not days of runtime, or a standard AC system may suffice.

The iPower. GPON ONT UPS Solution
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Explanation of Buck and Boost in Line Interactive UPS Systems

LCD screen

A line interactive Uninterruptible Power Supply is characterised by its ability to raise the input voltage when it is too low, and to lower the input voltage when it is too high. This provides a degree of voltage regulation. This process is sometimes known as Automatic Voltage Regulation or AVR, however some manufacturers of AVR equipment may – and probably do – object to this as a line interactive UPS is a very loose AVR whereas a dedicated AVR device offers tight control on output voltages. A better description for a line interactive UPS System would be a “buck and boost” device.

Here in this article I’m going to try and explain what one of our UPS does and for this I’m going to take the VIS2000B, apply varying voltage to it and observe the unit response. The VIS2000B is a good choice as the LCD display lets us know both input and output voltage so we don’t need to add any multimeters to the circuit. We’re going to modify the input voltage by means of a variable transformer, or a Variac. If you’re trying this at home don’t use a dimmer switch as these work in a different way.

buck&boost

Firstly we set the variac to nominal voltage, connect to the VIS2000B and switch it on. The display shows input voltage on the left at 230V and the output voltage on the right at 230V.

This is normal operation and so what comes in, goes out. What we will do now is increase the input voltage and observe.

As the voltage is increased the output voltage matches the input voltage until the buck trigger threshold is reached. This is set to be around the maximum voltage that the utility should provide which is 230 +10% = 253V.

buck&boost

In our case at 252V the unit enters buck mode and reduces the high input voltage to 212V. [Also note that on VIS2000B the AC Mode indicator blinks.]

The lower threshold of voltage supplied by the utility is open to some debate. It is 230V -10% = 207V in much of Europe and was supposed to be the same in the UK. However the implementation date of about 8 years ago has come and gone and so officially in the UK the voltage is still set to be 230V – 6% = 216V. However other standards for products that are CE marked generally require equipment to be able to operate across the full spectrum of nominal voltages, so the output is aimed to be regulated within the realm of the EU, so 230±10% or 207V to 253V.

Raising our test variac to as high as it could go saw the unit maintain in buck mode with the output voltage rising proportionally with the input. In buck mode the input voltage is reduced by a nominal 16% or so.

buck&boost

Raising the input voltage even higher results in the unit disabling buck  mode and reverting to battery operation.

As we reduce the input voltage the buck will at some point be deactivated and the unit will return to normal. There must be some hysteresis built into this or the unit would “chatter” eg switch constantly in and out at the threshold voltage.

buck&boost

In our test with the unit output reaching 207V a further reduction in input voltage caused the unit to switch out of buck mode and back into normal mode.

With the mains input voltage reduced further the output voltage tracks the input voltage until the boost threshold is reached at around the 207V mark.

Here the mains input is raised by around 17-18% in order to maintain the voltage within the nominal range.

buck&boost

Further reductions in the input voltage will keep the unit in boost mode until the output voltage can no longer be maintained within tolerance and the unit will revert to battery operation.

Raising the voltage the unit comes out of battery mode, straight into boost which then is disabled when the input voltage reaches around 211V.

To summarise, a line interactive unit attempts to maintain the output voltage within regulated limits for as long as possible without dropping to battery power. This is an advantage of over offline UPS systems that will have no option but to drop to battery instead of providing regulation, which would resort in lost loads due to UPS switching off due to depleted battery, or diminished battery life if the unit is regularly switching in and out of battery mode. However, they do not provide tight output voltage control. To achieve this online double conversion UPS systems provide a constant fixed output voltage regardless of the input voltage level.

Additional Notes with regard to the VIS2000B

One of the drawbacks of UPS Systems is the need for them to prevent a build up of heat and so many are fitted with forced cooling fans. In our VIS2000B the unit fan activates when the unit is “active” that is, on battery but also when it is in buck or boost mode. Users may find their unit enters buck mode when their mains is around the 250V mark as this will be activated should the mains hit 252V even momentarily. Due to the hysteresis effects the fan will not be disabled until the lower threshold is reached which is around the 246V mark. If this occurs, briefly switching the unit onto battery power will clear the hysteresis effect.

Note that we can change the threshold somewhat to effectively shift the buck and boost points higher by around 10V or so. This prevents the unit entering a nuisance buck mode and also makes the minimum output voltage more within the current UK spec but this does mean that the unit will allow voltages of 260+V through, should these be encountered. This is a factory setting that the Power Inspired technicians would be happy to undertake for you if required.